Last Thursday 9 September saw the presentation of the installations submitted to the 25th Vertical Workshop, held by UIC Barcelona School of Architecture, which this year was held under the title "Unlimited city. Designing inclusive and accessible urban furniture for Barcelona”. For one week, second to fifth year Architecture students were divided into four teams with the aim of designing flexible and inclusive items of urban furniture, based on the principles of universal design.

The winning installation at this year’s Vertical Workshop was named “Modulit”, a project overseen by lecturers Enrique Arenas and Andrés Lupiáñez. The idea behind the proposal is based on developing a modular, urban furniture prototype, which allows for a multitude of compositions and seeks to involve citizens in the configuration of urban space. “Modulit proposes a new process of configuring the city, offering people the chance to create their own urban park”, said the students that make up the winning team. 

The four proposals developed by the UIC Barcelona School of Architecture students were installed at full scale on the Barcelona Campus and were assessed by an external jury composed of Palmira Borràs, director of the Association Area of the Health and Social Consortium of Catalonia; Pol Font i Teixidor, member of the Urban Model Department at Barcelona City Council; Josep Maria Serra and Jordi Muñoz, general manager and director of Marketing and Communication at Urbidermis, and Maria Isabel Gabarró, director of the Master’s Degree in Architecture and Design Business Management. The jury highlighted the high quality of all proposals submitted to the Workshop as well as the commitment shown by the students to the principles of inclusion and accessibility reflected in their designs. 

This year’s Vertical Workshop was directed by lecturer Iñigo Ugalde and coordinated by Nacho Vallhonorat, partner at the architecture studio Estudio Detres. It was also sponsored by Health and Social Consortium of Catalonia and was held in collaboration with urban furniture editor Urbidermis.